Anne Barth In the News

Capito keeps fundraising lead over Barth
By Tom Searls
Staff writer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito raised about $90,000 more than her Democratic challenger from April through June, and maintained her big financial advantage in the race.

Still, some national political observers think the race will be closer than they first expected.

Federal Election Commission reports filed by both candidates for the second quarter of this year showed Capito, a four-term Republican incumbent, raised $388,649, while Democrat Anne Barth collected $295,823.

Officials from both parties were quick to blast the other candidate's fundraising.

"I think it shows without [U.S. Sen. Robert C.] Byrd's help Barth would be going begging," said state Republican Chairman Doug McKinney. Barth was a longtime aide to Byrd, the state's senior senator.

Nick Casey, state Democratic Party chairman, said the list of Capito contributors "has everybody on there who makes people's skin crawl."

He noted contributions from Countrywide PAC, the political action committee of the mortgage lender that made bad loans and has foreclosed on homes across the nation, and Capital One Financial Political Fund, a bank that the West Virginia attorney general sued for alleged consumer fraud. Both of those contributions, $1,000 each, were made in 2007.

"The one thing that impressed me the most is almost all of [Barth's] money - roughly 80 percent - came from inside West Virginia," Casey said. "West Virginians [are] financially supporting Anne Barth."

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